A federal indictment that was unsealed Wednesday details a gang-related drug enterprise in Howard County that has led to charges against 18 alleged gang members and three others who officials said were operating on the street and from behind jail walls.

The affidavit, which is more than 80 pages long, said 18 of the 21 defendants are alleged to be Bloods gang members. They were charged with federal racketeering and drug dealing. The three others were charged in a related narcotics conspiracy.

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According to U.S. attorney Rod Rosenstein, federal investigators followed a trail of violent crime and drug dealing among the gang members, who were working out of Howard County over the course of a year.

"What we've done is we've put together these conspiracy cases where we're able to prosecute all significant members of the gangs so that we really have an ongoing impact," Rosenstein told 11 News.

The indictment detailed a system in which gang members maintained and shared firearms, distributed drugs and engaged in violent crimes against other rival gangs and to maintain membership within the gang.

At least some of the evidence explained in the affidavit came from wiretapped conversations during which investigators said the suspects discussed criminal activity on the street and behind bars. The affidavit said one of the suspects, Michael Johnson, was an inmate at the Chesapeake Detention Center in Baltimore City. Investigators said they "listened to over 50 calls where Johnson calls criminal associates and discusses narcotics trafficking and gang business."

"The gang members on the outside provide support for gang members who are arrested by providing green-dot cards and providing money for them to spend while they're locked up in jail," Rosenstein said. "This is a continuing challenge that we face here in Baltimore, throughout the state and, really, throughout the country."

Howard County police identified about 400 gang members in the county as being part of the national organizations of Bloods, Crips and Folk Nations, making up about 48 percent of the gang population.

"If you take out the entire gang structure, then you might be able to bring more safety and security to the community," Rosenstein said. "That's our goal in this and in other cases -- to identify significant players in a gang and prosecute them all in one indictment, hold them accountable and, hopefully, bring greater safety to the area."

Fifteen of the defendants were arrested Wednesday, officials said. Five of them were already in custody. According to investigators, defendant Anthony Louis Jones, of Columbia, is still on the run.